Stranded French tourists leave Tioman with sweet memories
Published on: Saturday, May 16, 2020
By: Bernama
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File photo: AFP
"I expected nothing special on my 67th birthday on May 1, but it turned out to be the sweetest memory that I would cherish forever," recalled Christian on one of memorable moments he experienced on the island.
He told Bernama when he first heard a knock on his room door in the morning of May 1, he did not pay much attention as he was not expecting any guest, besides it was still considered early for the hotel staff to do the housekeeping.
“But the knock did not stop. When I opened the door, surprise, the hotel staff sang me a happy birthday song with a cake and asked me to blow the candle. It was unexpected and something sweet to cheer me and my wife as we felt a little stressed the day before.
“We arrived at the island in the middle of March and initially planned to stay for a week. We had bought tickets to continue with our holiday in Jakarta, Bandung and Bali in Indonesia. However, we got stranded on the island when the Movement Control Order (MCO) was implemented," he said when met at Tanjung Gemok Jetty here, on Friday.
Christian and his wife were among 17 foreign tourists from various countries such as Italy, Sweden, Germany and United Kingdom, who were stranded on the island due to the implementation of MCO.
Although their holiday did not work out as planned, Christian and his wife were grateful to be stranded on Tioman Island as they felt safer there since there were no COVID-19 positive cases reported on the island.
For his fellow countryman Hobert Benjamin, 42, the MCO has enabled him to experience the true 'Malaysian hospitality' where the hotel staff, authorities and locals always tried their level best to ensure he got the best possible care after being stuck on the island from March 17.
“Hotel staff would ask about my condition almost everyday and told me not to be shy to ask for help if I needed anything. I also managed to try lots of local food such as nasi kandar, nasi ayam and several kuih, thanks to locals who introduced it to me,” he said.
Being stranded on the island has provided Benjamin the opportunity to meet two other French nationals, Francois Parnet, 28, and Margot Desbois, 25, who coincidentally hailed from his hometown of Rennes and all three fast becoming friends and planned to continue meeting up once they were back in France.
Meanwhile, Pahang Human Resources, Youth, Sports and Non-Governmental Organisations Committee chairman Datuk Seri Mohd Johari Hussain said the state government provided speed boat to take the foreign tourists to the mainland before they boarded a bus to Kuala Lumpur.
“All of them had undergone health screening including body temperature conducted by the state health department and only those who were free from COVID-19 symptoms allowed to leave,” he said.
Keywords:
Coronavirus
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